The National Guard of Ukraine: the Crimean Tatar battalion must operate within the law

29.01.2016

Sources within the National Guard of Ukraine, which is a part of the Ministry of the Interior of Ukraine, note that the statements pertinent to the formation of a Crimean Tatar battalion within their organization remain nothing more than speculation with no legislative basis.

Thus, the Speaker of the establishment Svetlana Pavlovskaya has made a comment during the broadcast of “Radio Crimea. The Realities” with regard to the statements of the coordinator of the Crimea blockade Lenur Islyamov on the formation of such battalion within the National Guard of Ukraine.

This is nothing more than an insinuation of one individual, who deems himself responsible to make such statements. I can tell you one thing: the National Guard of Ukraine operates within the limits of current legislation.

The Speaker of the National Guard pointed out that there is a place for this initiative but it has to be carried out within the laws of Ukraine.

There are very specific goals, we are talking about armed men here. There is a certain legislative framework, which is defined both by the current legislation of Ukraine and by the international law. We want to become a part of Europe. We are working on improving our current legislation, including the judicial one, and we have to clearly realize that there are certain limits, within which we are operating.

However, the guest of the broadcast Lenur Uslyamov stated that “speakers do not get a vote”:

Speakers do not get a vote in this country; they were instructed to say this, so they do.

Let us remind: in December 2015, the coordinator of the Crimea blockade Lenur Islyamov claimed that a Crimean Tatar battalion named after Noman Chelebidzhahin were to be formed. This idea was seconded by Refat Chubarov, the Head of Majlis of the Crimean Tatar People, who noted that the crimeans, who did not wish to serve in Russian army, could join it.